CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A steady stream of the faithful and the curious, many carrying flowers and candles, have flocked to an expressway underpass for a view of a yellow and white stain on a concrete wall that some believe is an image of the Virgin Mary.

Police have patrolled the emergency turnoff area under the Kennedy Expressway since Monday as hundreds of people have walked down to see the image and the growing memorial of flowers and candles that surround it. Beside the image is an artist's rendering of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II in a pose some see echoed in the stain.

"We believe it's a miracle," said Elbia Tello, 42. "We have faith, and we can see her face."

Tuesday morning, women knelt with rosary beads behind a police barricade while men in work shirts stood solemnly before the image, praying. A police officer kept the crowd of about three dozen from getting too close to the traffic but didn't stop them gathering around the stain.

The stain is likely the result of salt run-off, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The agency does not plan to scrub it off the wall.

"We're treating this just like we treat any type of roadside memorial," said IDOT spokesman Mike Claffey. "We have no plans to clean this site."

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago had not received any requests to authenticate the image as of Monday, spokesman Jim Dwyer said.

"These things don't happen every day," Dwyer said. "Sometimes people ask us to look into it. Most of the time they don't. (The meaning) depends on the individual who sees it. To them, it's real. To them, it reaffirms their faith."

But onlooker Victor Robles, 36, said he was skeptical about the stain's Virgin Mary resemblance.

"I see just a concrete wall and an image that could happen anywhere," Robles said. "If that image helps more people feel closer to God than maybe that is a good sign."

Worldwide, people have been drawn to images believed to resemble the Virgin Mary seen on windows, fence posts and walls.

Among the best-known in the United States was an image seen in office windows in Clearwater, Florida. Within weeks, a half million people had been to the site. Glass experts believe the image was created by a chemical reaction and corrosion of the metallic elements in the glass coating, but they could not explain why it took the shape it did. The windows were broken last year.

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"The creed is very simple, and here is what it is: to believe that there is nothing more beautiful, more courageous, and more perfect than Christ; and there not only isn't, but I tell myself with a jealous love, there cannot be." ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

Too late. I heard on Friday that someone had defaced it with something like "Big Lie" in spraypaint. So who needs to chill more, those who pilgrimage to see it, or those who feel compelled to deface it? Sheesh.

Too late. I heard on Friday that someone had defaced it with something like "Big Lie" in spraypaint. So who needs to chill more, those who pilgrimage to see it, or those who feel compelled to deface it? Sheesh.

Did the person discovering this miraculous stain happen to have a grilled cheese sandwich in his hands at the time?

What would cause a Roman Catholic to see or want to see things like this? I mean, if and I say if the Blessed Mother wanted to manifest herself in any venue it certainly would not be in places such as this. I mean , come on now. What in the Roman faith causes folks to readily see images in obviously ordinary things. There have been "sightings" on windows, fence posts, now underpasses. What in this religion makes people feel they have seen these things?

When I used to work in the reactor room of an aircraft carrier, there was a visible pattern of grime on the back of the ladder-well that I could swear was a portrait of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A friend of mine didn't notice it till he tripped on acid.....so yeah, it's all about interpretation.

What would cause a Roman Catholic to see or want to see things like this? I mean, if and I say if the Blessed Mother wanted to manifest herself in any venue it certainly would not be in places such as this. I mean , come on now.

Well, I'm not sure about that. Who are we to say where she might want (or rather, where God might want her) to manifest herself? It seems to me that similar things could have been said about our Lord..."if and I say if the Messiah wanted to come and deliver us, it certainly would not be someone raised in Galilee", "He wouldn't die like a common criminal", etc.

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Quote from: Fr Alexander Schmemann

The Gospel is quite clear: both saints and sinners love God. "Religious" people do not love him, and whenever they can, they crucify him.